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Ribbons & Rebukes

Ribbon for asking the obvious
In Emmet Sullivan's court, playing dumb is, well, pretty dumb. When Justice Department lawyers admitted to the U.S. district court judge that they haven't even read all of Dick Cheney's energy task force papers -- the very ones they argue should be kept secret -- Sullivan posed a germane question: "How can you be asserting this is privileged information if you haven't even looked at it?" He then ordered the Justice Department to turn over the documents or to provide a detailed list of why each is too sensitive to release.

Rebuke for wild fire
If you can't beat 'em, shoot 'em. This was the philosophy of fish-farm manager Vicky Davidson, who Florida investigators say passed out twelve-gauge shotguns to employees and told them to fire at anything that threatened the fish. Workers allegedly killed some 4,000 animals, including herons, a wood stork, and at least one alligator. The accused should have studied up on her victims' dietary habits, however: Many of the birds killed eat only insects.

Ribbon for public protest
The die-off of 33,000 salmon on Oregon's Klamath River is more than fishy to Michael Kelly. The National Marine Fisheries Service biologist set water levels to protect endangered salmon, but the Bush-backed Bureau of Reclamation balked at his numbers and diverted more water to area farmers. Kelly charges it's a case of political science; an investigation is pending.
-- Jill Davis

OnEarth. Winter 2003Copyright 2002 by the Natural Resources Defense Council